House To Hold Hearing On SEC Settlement Practices

Law360, New York (December 19, 2011, 2:56 PM EST) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's practice of settling claims against defendants that neither admit nor deny the regulators' allegations will come under scrutiny during a House Financial Services Committee hearing next year, committee members said Friday.

The practice, in which the SEC extracts fines from companies and individuals that aren't required to admit wrongdoing, again gained attention in November in New York when U.S. District Judge Jed. S. Rakoff rejected the agency's $285 million settlement of a mortgage-backed securities complaint against Citigroup Inc.